Over a hundred cheetahs are expected to migrate from South Africa to India in the coming years.photo: IMAGO / Wirestock
Good news
More than 70 years after cheetahs went extinct in India, two of the big cats have been released back into the wild in the country. “The two cheetahs are fine”Indian Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav wrote on Twitter on Saturday after male Obaan and female Asha left their quarantine quarters in Kuno National Park to freedom.
The two cheetahs were brought to India from Namibia in September along with six other cheetahs. In 2020, the Supreme Court of India ruled that the big cats should be resettled on a trial basis. The animals were fitted with transmitter collars to track their movements.
The species has been considered extinct since 1952
The last animal of the subcontinent’s Asiatic cheetah subspecies was reportedly killed by an Indian prince in 1947. In 1952, the species was finally declared extinct.
The program to reintroduce the African cheetah, another subspecies, is a prestige project of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. According to official information, this is the first attempt in the world to move cheetahs across continents.
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Cheetahs can struggle in the Indian habitat
Last month, another 12 cheetahs arrived in India from South Africa for release. A total of 100 more animals are to be transferred to India over the next ten yearsalthough some critics worry that the animals will have trouble acclimatizing to their new Indian habitat and that the leopards in the national park may out-compete them for prey.
Cheetahs, one of the oldest species of big cats, are in danger of extinction. It is estimated that there are only around 7,000 cheetahs left in the wild, most of them in Africa.
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